Advice for name change in Group Booking

michele-p

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice for a group ski trip we have booked for next year,
It's through a travel agent, to Club Med ski resort - they have also booked us flights with BA. Deposits of £308 each paid, balance due in Nov.

One of the party of 20 will have to pull out after being diagnosed with a medical condition. We don't know as yet if she had insurance in place (and this is a major lesson for next trip, will sort out group insurance at time of booking!). The silence from her suggests she might not..

The agent have told us:
Club Med have advised that a name change on your booking would mean buying in a new flight, plus an administration fee and a new membership fee for the person replacing xx. The flight cost has increased since you booked back in March so the total cost for a name change would be £441.00 (this is subject to change depending on flight costs when you actually confirm the change). The deposit of £308.25 paid by xx would be lost.

If you were unable to replace xx, the empty bed supplement would be £1144.00 so amended costs would be as follows: ...(deleted, not needed here)

As you can see, this would mean that you would actually be paying more than you are currently paying for 20 people, so we would leave the booking as it is and have xx as a no-show.

As she is cancelling due to illness she will be able to claim the money lost on her travel insurance.

I've got them to send me the Club Med T+C's
http://ns.clubmed.com/nmea/2012/b2c/341/pdf/Terms_and_conditions_2016.pdf

From what I can see the name change fee is £50 +£15 membership fee from Club Med. Ive costed up a new fight with BA - as they say it's not changeable - £136. So I get to £201.

This aside - do I read it that if we manage to find someone to take xx's place - the cost is £441, plus xx will loose her deposit? But if we don't have anyone to replace her, she has to pay the full balance and claim it back and just not show up, otherwise the rest of the group needs to pay £1144.00 more to cover the changes if we cancel her place.

I've been trying to get more advice from the agent, but help working out exactly what i THINK we are liable for would be greatly appreciated!

Moto2

What if xx was a 'no show' at the airport?

littlereddevil

A no show isn't a problem, but she hasn't paid the balance of the holiday yet, so will she?

michele-p

Thanks all, just heard that she does have insurance, so I'm asking her to check what they cover. The issue is that she's paid the deposit, and due to pay balance soon. We need to make sure the insurance will cover the full payment including the balance, rather than just cover her deposit, otherwise the rest of the group price goes up considerably.

Marcus-H_2

get her to pay the balance before claiming... then she can claim for what she has paid & not show up on the day of departure?

Backbiter

Marcus-H wrote: »

get her to pay the balance before claiming... then she can claim for what she has paid & not show up on the day of departure?

She would need a cancellation invoice from Club Med for the insurance claim. So just not turning up on the day wouldn't be an option, would it? Her medical records would show that the medical reason for cancelling would not have been last-minute. I doubt the insurance company would pay the full amount if it was clear she paid it after she knew she couldn't travel.

michele-p

Thanks all for replies, we will have to play the waiting game a little longer. The insurance want confirmation of treatment dates before they do anything, we won't have this until after an initial op, so will have to keep the booking as is for now, then when treatment proper starts cancel the place.

I think at this stage finding a new person to take the place might just complicate the insurance claim. So best to wait until we can actually cancel the place and let the insurance pay out the lady in question.

We just want her to concentrate on getting better, rather than worrying about all this.